Slain officer remembered with shrine

November 25, 2012|By Bridget Doyle, Chicago Tribune reporter

Chicago police Officer Dan O'Connor and his 5-year-old son, Danny, view the new shrine of St. Michael and St. Florian Sunday before its dedication at St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel. (Michael Tercha, Chicago Tribune)

Holding each other tightly at St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel's newest shrine, the Flisk family gazed up at the colorful dedication to their loved one Sunday.

Two years after he was killed in the line of duty, Chicago police Officer Michael Flisk was honored with a permanent mosaic shrine on the city's Southwest Side.

The Flisks, family friends and uniformed police and firefighters were among those who attended a Sunday afternoon dedication mass to honor Flisk. At the request of the priest, Flisk's wife, Nora, and each of their four children took a turn sprinkling the shrine with holy water during a blessing.

The shrine is of St. Michael, chosen for police officers because he's "the protector," and St. Florian, the patron saint of firefighters. It is the church's 27th shrine, the Rev. Tom McCarthy said.

Flisk, an evidence technician for the Chicago Police Department, died Nov. 26, 2010. Flisk, 46, was shot while investigating a burglary. Police say the thief feared Flisk had found incriminating fingerprints and shot the officer and the burglary victim. Timothy Herring, a parolee, was later charged in the slayings.

McCarthy said he remembers being with the family two years ago at the funeral, but he noted that Sunday's focus was remembering Flisk and providing a place for all police, firefighters and paramedics to pray and find refuge.

After the mass, the Flisk family took turns giving hugs and shaking hands with the congregation. Nora Flisk said the family was doing "extraordinarily" well, as her eldest son just welcomed his first daughter to the family.

She joked Sunday that her "humble" husband would have been embarrassed by the attention.

She described the mosaic as an "uplifting tribute" to her husband and a way to honor all the service men and women who work tirelessly in Chicago. "Now they have somewhere to pray," she said.

Peg Flisk, the Flisks' daughter, said the family was happy to be surrounded by support at the church Sunday.

"This means the world to us," she said of the shrine. "This is the best tribute we could do for my dad."

The shrine is one of the church's largest and now sits to the left of the altar. Saluting police officers and firefighters are depicted in the bottom corners of the shrine. The artwork also includes Chicago Police Department and Chicago Fire Department badges, as well as Flisk's police badge with the number "6962."

The original image was drawn by a Chicago firefighter and was made into a mosaic by father and son artists, McCarthy said.

Nora Flisk's cousin, James Flannery, read a statement from the family about the shrine. He praised his cousin's strength two years after the loss of her husband and touched on their close marital bond.

"Their devotion was apparent to all," Flannery said, choking back tears at times.

At the end of his speech, the entire congregation gave a standing ovation to Nora Flisk, who shyly motioned for everyone to sit down.

In closing his homily Sunday, McCarthy thanked the Flisk family for their dedication to the shrine.